Poll on "Automatic Updates"

[ChrisGreaves]

I searched "a new firefox update is available" and thought that it was time for another poll.
Please respond to this poll if
1. You use Firefox on your desktop/laptop (I am not thinking of not smart phone versions)
2. Your version of Firefox is less than 6 months old (which I think means version 72 or later)

Otherwise please vote "other", because I think you have to vote in order to join the discussion.to see the votes.
Thanks
Chris

[stuck]

Why would you have FF updates set to anything other than 'automatically install''?

Perhaps if you are a large corporation, where you need to control the update process (you wouldn't want every PC in the org. trying to update FF at the same time, it might cripple your Internet connection). Or perhaps back in the days when FF was the new kid on the block there was a case for a cautious approach to FF updates but these days, on a single home PC? I can't remember the last time a FF update was anything other than a slight lengthening of the start up process while the update was applied.

Ken

[HansV]

(I am not thinking of not smart phone versions)

Are those phones not smart, or are you thinking of smart phone versions?

[stuck]

A case of too many nots making a knot, or not?

Ken

[HansV]

I hope it's knot a problem.

[StuartR]

I have the latest version of FireFox open all the time, with about 12 tabs - including Twitter, Facebook, Trello, this lounge, WhatsApp, Microsoft Teams, Fastmail and many more. This is not my default browser, to prevent links opened from Outlook or office documents using the same browser as my social media.

I have quite a few FireFox add-ons to protect me from the worst of the nasties out there. Including
DuckDuckGo Privacy extension
Facebook container
Firefox Multi-Account Containers
First Party Isolation
uBlock Origin

[ChrisGreaves]

Why would you have FF updates set to anything other than 'automatically install''? Perhaps if you are a large corporation, where you need to control the update process (you wouldn't want every PC in the org. trying to update FF at the same time, it might cripple your Internet connection). Or perhaps back in the days when FF was the new kid on the block there was a case for a cautious approach to FF updates but these days, on a single home PC? I can't remember the last time a FF update was anything other than a slight lengthening of the start up process while the update was applied.

Hi Ken. My birthday is this week, and I am developing quite a Large Corporation by celebrating with ice-cream.


I believe two considerations cover my inhibitions with automatic updates
(1) A strong desire for a stable platform. I have enough trouble already with my programming skills without things changing around me. While I think of my platform as "Win7/Office2003", applications that grab data from a Google search page might also fall prey to a slight change in page layout brought about by Google or by the browser.
(2) A generic fear that an update might not be properly tested, and that my tools will crash when I most need them. I confess to viewing the postings here and elsewhere of Win10 problems, making me more determined to stick with Win7 until Win10 settles down. This is a fear-based decision, and fear-based decisions are often wrong. Quite possibly less thnan 0.001% of Win10 users experience problems, but those get the press and news media.

That said I have turned Firefox automatic updates ON and, of course, the nag screen has gone away.
But not before I logged it in my essay on ad-blockers.

Cheers
Chris

[Argus]

It's off here; not much of any "nag screens" either, guess they can't be bothered to send some bits back and forth to the north. It takes (1)2-3 days to get a small notification, after that it's just that little notification dot.

Every now and then I take a simple backup (as in a zip file) of my Fx profile (well, most of it), and even if it's known that Mozilla is updating it every 6th week or something you don't know exactly when, so it's off, and then a quick backup later I run the update.

That said, it's a very long time since any browser managed to corrupt profile data while updating.

Hi Ken. My birthday is this week, and I am developing quite a Large Corporation by celebrating with ice-cream.

[HansV]

Happy Birthday (whenever it is this week), Chris!

[ChrisGreaves]

Happy Birthday (whenever it is this week), Chris!

Thanks Hans. I intend to have the happiest anniversary of my life!!!
Cheers
Chris

[stuck]

I believe two considerations cover my inhibitions with automatic updates
(1) A strong desire for a stable platform. I have enough trouble already with my programming skills without things changing around me. While I think of my platform as "Win7/Office2003", applications that grab data from a Google search page might also fall prey to a slight change in page layout brought about by Google or by the browser.
(2) A generic fear that an update might not be properly tested, and that my tools will crash when I most need them. I confess to viewing the postings here and elsewhere of Win10 problems, making me more determined to stick with Win7 until Win10 settles down. This is a fear-based decision, and fear-based decisions are often wrong. Quite possibly less thnan 0.001% of Win10 users experience problems, but those get the press and news media.

On (1) are you not more likely to come up against problems because the page layout has been changed by the page author, rather than by the browser?

On (2) I though this thread was about FF. As I said, I can’t remember the last time a FF update made the sky fall.

Window 10 updates are different kettle of fish but despite the cry on the second Tuesday of each month that the sky is falling, I don’t think it does. I’ve never had any problems with Win 10 updates (except when my SSD died at the same time Win 10 updated from 1709 to 1803 but that’s a separate story). I have Win 10 Pro though and that allows me to set a group policy that defers updates. I defer the monthly quality (aka security) updates by a couple of weeks but they always land on my machine before the next lot come down the tubes. I defer the feature updates until the version I’m on gets to within about 3 months of end-of-life. This means I’m still on Win 10 1903. I set these deferrals when I first got Win 10. It’s been a set it and forget it thing. This update strategy works for me but my home PC use is mainly local, it doesn’t involve a vast amount of web surfing. If your life is on-line / you are a large organisation you will almost certainly need to apply updates more promptly. For example, my work system gets the security updates within days of their release. Feature updates arrive promptly as well so I’m expecting Win 10 2004 to turn up soon.

However, if you’ve poked and hacked Win 10, e.g. in an attempt to make it behave like Win 7 should you not expect an update to go wrong? Think about it. If you’d rearranged the fitted units in your kitchen and then the people you’d bought it from returned to give you new doors / worksurfaces, free of charge, would they not turn up with stuff designed to fit what they originally installed and not your personally customised units? It wouldn’t end well would it?

As for your strategy of waiting until “Win 10 settles down”. MS are hell bent on releasing Win 10 feature updates every six months. I choose the term ‘hell bent’ deliberately to emphasise the fact that means you’ll be waiting for hell to freeze over before you can move on to Win 10.
Win 7 is history, get over it. Update to Win 10 Pro

Ken

[ChrisGreaves]

(1) A strong desire for a stable platform. I have enough trouble already with my programming skills without things changing around me. While I think of my platform as "Win7/Office2003", applications that grab data from a Google search page might also fall prey to a slight change in page layout brought about by Google or by the browser.

On (1) are you not more likely to come up against problems because the page layout has been changed by the page author, rather than by the browser?

Hi Ken. Yes, I am more likely to find a change in a regular target page than in the browser, but then
(a) A major browser change is likely to topple target pages on other web sites I analyse and
(b) While I can't stop web site pages from changing, I can limit browser changes at my end.

(2) A generic fear that an update might not be properly tested, and that my tools will crash when I most need them. I confess to viewing the postings here and elsewhere of Win10 problems, making me more determined to stick with Win7 until Win10 settles down. This is a fear-based decision, and fear-based decisions are often wrong. Quite possibly less than 0.001% of Win10 users experience problems, but those get the press and news media.

On (2) I though this thread was about FF. As I said, I can’t remember the last time a FF update made the sky fall. Window 10 updates are different kettle of fish but despite the cry on the second Tuesday of each month that the sky is falling, I don’t think it does.

Yes, my main concern was with FF. Win comes in, as does Word2003 as part of the "I want a stable platform" argument.

I note with interest that after one day the poll read 6 for and 1 against automatic updates, but today it reads 6 for and 5 against, to put it crudely. There could be only eleven FF users in Eileen's Lounge, or only 11 FF users who feel qualified to vote?

However, if you’ve poked and hacked Win 10, e.g. in an attempt to make it behave like Win 7 should you not expect an update to go wrong?

Ah. But I haven't poked and hacked Win10. I haven't installed Win10. Not now. Not ever.
(Although this may change when I buy myself a new laptop!)

Cheers
Chris